National Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Spotting and Avoiding Digital Scams
FRANKLIN, Tenn. (Oct. 13, 2025)—October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and United Communications is committed to helping you stay safe. This week, we’re turning to a challenge that can impact anyone with an internet connection: avoiding digital scams that can put your privacy and hard-earned money at risk.
Phishing, Mishing, and Vishing
While it may sound like gibberish, these are three of the most common methods that scammers will use to trick people online and over the phone:
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“Phishing”: Fraudulent emails designed to look like they’re from banks, delivery services, or even your employer. They often include urgent requests, suspicious links, or downloads containing malware that can steal your passwords and other personal data.
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“Mishing”: Similar to phishing, but carried out through text messages. These texts may include fake package delivery notices or “account alerts” that ask you to click a link and try to trick you into disclosing private information like usernames and passwords.
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“Vishing”: Voice phishing through phone calls, where a scammer pretends to be tech support, a government agency, or even your bank. Common vishing tactics include made-up claims regarding unpaid tolls, back taxes, or penalties for missing jury duty.
How to protect yourself: Never click suspicious links, don’t download unexpected attachments, and verify unusual requests directly with the company or person making the claim. If it feels urgent or threatening, take a step back and ask someone you know and trust for their assessment.
Family and Friend Impersonation Scams
Some of the most convincing (and disturbing) scams don’t come from strangers at all—they appear to come from people you know and trust. Whether they’re imitating a family member, a friend, a boss, or a coworker, scammers use impersonation to pressure you into acting quickly. These impersonation scams use a number of tactics to play on your emotions:
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Urgency and fear: A message claiming a loved one is in trouble or needs money right away can override normal caution. Be wary of unusual requests that involve money, gift cards, or sensitive information, even if they seem to come from someone you know.
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Familiar details: Scammers may know your boss’s name, your favorite coworker’s nickname, or your close relative’s phone number, making the request feel real. Look for inconsistencies—an email address that’s slightly off, a phone number you don’t recognize, or awkward phrasing.
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New technology: With deepfake tools powered by AI, fraudsters can even mimic someone’s voice or create a video that looks and sounds like it’s coming from the real person. Pay attention to the tone and the visuals. If the message looks or sounds different from how the person normally presents or communicates, that’s a red flag.
How to protect yourself: Don’t reply directly or click links. Instead, verify the request by contacting the person back through the phone number that’s already in your contacts list. By slowing down, double-checking requests, and maintaining a healthy level of skepticism, you can stop scammers from leveraging your relationships against you.
Fake Offers and Fraudulent Deals
Scammers also prey on hopes for financial gain or employment opportunities. Common examples include:
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Work-from-home opportunities: These scams promise high pay for little work, but require large “upfront fees” for training or materials.
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Investments: Scammers may create websites and social media profiles that look legitimate, touting guaranteed high returns with little or no financial risk to you.
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Marketplaces: Fraudsters will create fake e-commerce sites to sell products that are never or only partially delivered after payment is made.
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Cloned websites: Scammers will often create fake look-alike websites mimicking popular brands to steal payment details and money from unsuspecting victims.
If an offer seems too good to be true, it usually is. Do your research, steer clear of unfamiliar payment methods, and avoid making any sort of deal that spikes your emotions or pressures you into acting quickly. It’s always a good idea to manually type and bookmark official websites you visit often or stick with a company’s official mobile app.
How ProtectIQ Helps United Customers
Everyone is susceptible to falling prey to an online scam—even the most cautious among us. That’s why United Communications offers optional access to ProtectIQ to customers using our state-of-the-art Wi-Fi routers. ProtectIQ adds a layer of security to your home network by:
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Monitoring for malicious websites and preventing you from accessing them.
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Blocking suspicious traffic before it reaches your devices.
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Updating automatically to protect against the latest threats.
As part of the UControl Ultimate Wi-Fi management app, Protect IQ keeps every device connected to your network, working quietly in the background to help keep you and your family safer online. To learn more about fast, highly secure internet from United, visit United.nettoday.
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About United Communications
United Communications is a leading provider of internet and phone services for residential customers, small and mid-sized businesses, and enterprise-level organizations across Middle Tennessee. United has been nationally and regionally recognized, winning the 2024 and 2023 Best Places To Work award from the Nashville Business Journal, the 2024 and 2025 Gold Stevie® Award from the American Business Awards®, a 2025 BBC Mag Top 100 Fiber-To-The-Home Leader designation, and a 2023 Torch Award from the BBB. United was honored by the NCTA in their 2025 Smart Rural Community Showcase Awards.
United operates more than 6,100 route miles of fiber covering portions of Bedford, Davidson, Franklin, Giles, Lincoln, Marshall, Maury, Moore, Rutherford, Williamson, and Wilson counties. United Communications is a service of Middle Tennessee Electric. To learn more, please visit united.net.
